Huge Male Amur Tiger Arrives

Knowsley Safari has had an exciting arrival. After months of preparation, a male tiger began his journey from Banham Zoo in Norfolk to the Amur Tiger Trail.

Just over one year ago, the Amur Tiger Trail opened at Knowsley, seeing sisters Bira and Sinda finding their feet in this new area. With running streams, mature woodlands and huge ponds, the girls had plenty to explore in this impressive new area. Visitors were able to get a much better view of this amazing species through huge viewing windows looking out over different key areas of the tiger's territory.

When the Amur Tiger Trail was created Knowsley Safari had hopes of contributing to the European Breeding Programme, building a space that’s not only perfect for the two adult female tigers, but hopefully cubs too. For this, a male tiger was needed.

After months of talks and preparation, a male tiger was found, a perfect match for the females!  Kuzma, is now on loan in the Merseyside safari. He’ll be staying or around a year, getting to know the area, meeting the two females, and hopefully helping the population of Amur tigers by bringing some tiger cubs into the world.

Knowsley's carnivore keepers travelled with Kuzma from Norfolk, where he arrived safely on a rainy afternoon. The state of the art tiger dens meant moving a tiger was smooth, safe and secure. The male was kept seperate from the females to give him time to settle in, while still being able to explore the area and see eachother in neighbouring enclosures.

Since his arrival Kuzma has been exploring into the woodland, found his favourite spot and even shown an interest in the females and the visitors! We can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Amur Tiger population at Knowsley Safari.